SCATHING REPORT.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 536, 17 June 1909, Page 7

SCATHING REPORT.

ADDINGTON WORKSHOPS.

SYSTEM AND MACHINERY CONDEMNED

RECOMMENDATIONS OF COMMISSION.

The work at the Addington Railway Workshops Is not done as expeditiously and Monomloally as It might be. Considerable additions are required to made the plant efTiolent for manufactur-ing-purposes. Tho system of work Is faulty In the association of repairs with new work. The discipline is credltablo under a system tending to dishearten the better class of officers and men, and to give an undesirable security of tenure to Ineffi-

cient units. Tho report of tho Board of Inquiry in connection with tho Addington Railway Workshops was laid on tie table of tho House of Representatives by tho Minister for Railways, the Hon. J. A. Millar, at a lato stage yesterday afternoon. Tho chairman of the commission was Professor Scott (chairman), who was works manager at Addington, aJso at Hillside, for samo years. Subsequently, he was appointed professor in charge of the School of Engineering, Electricity, and Tcohnical Science at Canterbury College. He was assisted by Mr. James Just Nives, of Napier, who is a loading authority on matters pertaining to mechanical engineering and foundry work, and Mr. E. Roberts, oonsulting engineer, Dunedin, who, before he came to New Zealand, oocupied prominent positions with ■ engineering firms in Victoria, and also in New South Wales. ■ .... , ■:

The report states ; that the , board . carefully considered ,the evidence given at the inquiry. The work done at Aldington was partially ropair and partially new work, and under the, existing, conditions the board found it diifioult to soparate tho results obtained. The standard for comparison in tho two cases was widely different; for instanoe, niafchiries might be profitably employed on repairs the 'use ' of which on now work would, entail loss. A system of working might be tolerated in: connection with repairs which wonld.vbe,, altogether out of plaoo in .a repetition shop, Tho Board had thought it best to compare tho conduct of the new work,,at Addington with modern manufacturing practice, but' would draw attention to tho fact that at Addington tho now work had gradually increased in amount, and had up to'the present; probably from-force of circumstances, been,conducted very much on repair lines. Tho history of Addington appeared tobe tho eommort his-' torv of suoh undertakings, in which the ne\y. work usually grew to sucli proportions that wJiat was in reality a makeshift method •jf carrying on became, intolerable. In bucli casos separation and'reorganisation had inevitably followed.

• unsatisfactory Plant. Tho work had outgrown the capacity of the plate rolling plant. '' Tho" arrangement and grouping of the machines: were bad. ilio congested state of- the shop was a contributing cause of theso defects. Tho tool room and its equipment wero not what might be oxpected in a shop professing ,to turu.,out accurate work. The majority .of older lathes were unsuitable foi'" use' 'Vitli high' speed steel. A fow of the lathes might be modified with fairly satisfactory" results, as had already been done in one.case. Tho.remainder should bo replaced by modern machines. The board-would' also recommond. tho oomplcto remodelling of tho buildings, tho lay-out, the power-transmission,.and tho matonal handling arraiigiim&nis of this shop. v Tho lifting appliance in the foundry,- q single overhead traveller, hand-worked,' was extremely poor one,, twelve mcii being, required to deal with tho: larger Indleo. Wftgori Underframo manufacture was at present carried on in'a Shod boiler shop. A well-equipped-shop section was required for this class of work,, and for, dealing with car and wagorr bogies nrid-un-dergear generally. Here should bo installed a complete multiple drilling plant.' with' drills capable of being; set. to template,'so that no marking off of the work was required. . .. ...... ~v ~ ...

' Motlvo Power. ' v The motive power 1 ' arrangements' * werewasteful -ift tho extreme.' The pfeseiioe of tho many independent ovorwojked . boilers and non-condensing steam engines, together with faulty belt transmission, : fully •-accounted for tho onormouß fuel consumption of 3700 tons per annum for power purposes alono. Tho hoard recommended the abolition of. the existing arrangements a_nd - tho establishment of a oentral producer gas electric power generating station, with electric transmission to, and drive-inr tho' different shops. The larger machines'snould have independent. motors, the smaller machines being group driven. Nearly ,£3500 per annum could be saved, approximately, in i actual working expenses by such a'change. ' • System of work. Tho practico of carrying on together, new and repair work, and of transferring men and machines, from one to the other,, must tend to level down to repair standard the general rate of working of tho shop, and -inother ways to increase the cost of- production. The - wholesale. transference of men from new to repair work ip connection with holiday rushes is an especially bad feature of tho .system. Tho practice of manufacture ing parts during tho period of assemblage of tho whole and to ordinary rule and caliper measurements was faulty.. There was : a lack of system in connection with the machinoshop, tool room and the . method ofdoal-: ing with tools for tie machines. The equipment of the tool room was unsatisfactory. iWhilst the drawings for the manufaoturfe of rolling stock were generally excellent,the practice of requiring blacksmiths to. work from other than full-size.detail' drawings-led to much loss of time. The system oft time and oost-koeping -in us© waacomplicatod and unsatisfactory, in that information as to time and money cost was difficult,to extract. Tim foremen seemed to spend 25 per cent, of their time going through tho workmen's books.

Drastlo Alterations Recommended. 1 It-was rocomniendod -tliat .there, should bo a. complete separation of the now .from tho repair work, separato Bhbp. sections bo.ing .al-. lotted to cadi. There-should'be syslomatio manufacture of now work to limit gauges, and tho. wholo of the .various parts should ,bo drawn from,stock before -tfoe.e-rcetioirof the complete machine was commenced. Tho existing tool rooms should .bo abolished/and there should bo a well-equipped-room where tool repairs could be done, .Undef suoh, a, system the maohine shop would" bo divided into sections, to each of whidh a labourer would be allotted, whose duties, in addition to cleaning and giving necessary assistance at machines, would include, the of all dulled tools by fresh ones from the tool room, where all grinding yqnld' fo, done by', a tool-room ha-nd to predetermined 'standards', In-this way the machin^woiiidb;e coh-' stently in use. For oost-koopiag a production order and oard... system Should bo adopted. Under the proposed'system, a card issued by a foreman for any particular part of the work would accompany that portion through the shop, and:, would receive upon its face a record of .expended in the operations upon it. Upon the completion of tho job the card, together with a similar oard on which the of tihsi miterial would-be charged, won'" •'turned! th'Hho offico hound up in !!.-:• i Xiluotion order,;-and Mie time and cost could he-summed up by tiro cost clerk in a few hours. It was dosiraMo. that the cost clerk should bo located,'and the records filed, at the wiorks.

No Systematlo Loafing- , Though a gonoral air of lei'surelyjZioverabnt was apparent at AddingtonJ'tho board was satisfied, from tho evidence,'and. "their own investigation, that there had been no- systematic loafing oil tho iwrt. of;tho groat bulk of tho workmen, and, in view of the small amount of real power .for WrOifing authority possessed by tbo wptksbbps 'raanogor ind j foremen, tho board was; of opinion tnat thol fact that greater advantage "bad not been taken of tho security of thnir position by the men was creditable' -to fctainaelwa

and their officers, _ Hio board considered that the centralisation of control which had followed the passing of the Classification, and Superannuation Acts had virtually tnkon all power of exercising authority oat of tli6 hands of those directly in charge of the men, and 1 could not bo eonducivo to. the maintenance of the discipline of the works'? - l ' )e^<3,re d. * great improvement could be effected if the workshops manager were hold personally responsible for the results obtained by the shops, and as a consequence given greater powers of oontrol. it oousidorod tlint ho. should bo furnished •Wit" a list of approved applicants for cmiiloyment, and have a free hand, Tho interesting of themselves on bohalf of particu•t or .bodies of men, by persons out--5 _ji r . all ™y sorvico was not in tho board s opinion calculated to improve the discipline of the shops.:

Comparison With Other Shops. In estimating the , cost of production at Addington, for comparison with similar work m private establishments, 110 provision was made for insurance, rent of buildings, upkeep, and depreciation of buildings, cost of now machinery, and depreciation of plant, for which 83 1-3 rd in wages and oost of materia] should bo addod, instead of 15 per cent. Tho cost of locomotives bufli at Addington. was carefully oompared with that of similar work done by Messrs. Prioo 8r05.,. of Thames, and tho commission concludes that the cost of work at Addington is, jn all cases, greater than that of similar engines constructed ; elsewhere. The differences in favour of the private firms aro enumerated as follow;

Class A engines, 36 per cent, more than' Messrs. l'rice Bros. . Class B engines, 64J per oent. moro than imported. n Class TJ engines, 5i per cent, moro than ' jinghsli, and 74 per cont. more than Amorioan. Class \VF, 14J per, oent. dearer than Hillside, .and 19 per cent, more than Price Bros. Tho Rvorngfl cost- of castings on the basis adopted 1 by t.ho commission is £13 per toil, whilo the rate charged by tho Department for cylinder castings for lonomotivcs was £12 10s. per ton (£ls would be newer the value, for such work), and it would appear that tbo so-called profit in the working of the year had only been arrived at by neglecting a portion of the charges which tho foundry • account should have been called upon lo carry. ; . .. ,

' Cost of.Produotion. • Regarding points and orossmgs, tho board considered that tho manufacture of these was : being^carried out in a satisfactory manner, and tho cost of tho work compared favourably with that done by private firms. Compared with other workshops, the cost of smiths' ' work at. Addington was higher. Tho boiler work was being carried oh under grave disadvantages, which increased tho oost of pro- ' < auction. Regarding output, tho board found that tho association of repair with now work rendered it almost impossible to arrive .it figures of- any value 'in connection with output.. iThe,weight of iron castings turned out per man employed ill the foundry was lower * than that* attained in private shops doing similar; work. The board expressed surprise at the 6mall amount of knowledge of tdio coat of operations shown by ,somo of those directing work, .and considered it desirable that laanagor and foremen should •bo falM" acquainted with the details of tho cost of 'production. The board in this respect recommended that persons plaoed in control of now work should receive a ' period of training in railway manufacturing works in older countries. .:

, An Inventions Board. Sincc.nmch valuable assistance could, undoubtedly be derived from those actually engaged on the production of work, ithe board suggested tlw establishment of an inventions board, to whom all BUch suggestions should be oiravcyed, and who would adviso the Department as to the value of tho ideas sub-nntie-d to them. ,The : mode of communication with this board, might be through the medium of suggestion boxes placed in the .various shops. " ■ ' .

Final Conclusions. Summing tip the results of their inqnirj the' board wore of opinion— ', :; ' ■' That tho Work at Addington was not being done as expeditiously and economically as it might be. This applied especially to tho smith shop, the bailor shop, tho machine shop, the Greeting shop, Jlie car and wagon shop, and tho foundry. ,

That the plant'and appliances (with tha oxcoption of tho power arrangements) were suitable for the carrying on of repairs .work, but that considerable additions wore required before they could: bo classed as efficient for manufacturing purposes. . ■ That, the system of work was faulty in tho association of ropairs with new work, the methods of dealing with and carrying on manufacture of new work/ the system of cost-keeping and tho tool By stem, .. That the discipline maintained, under the present conditions was creditable to both officers and workmen, for the board believed that the existing systom'of classification and control was calculated to dishearten tha better, class of officers and men, and to give an; undesirable security of tenure to iseffioient units. . y _ ' That the cost of production was, speaking generally, greater at Addington tnan at pn-' vato ana the other Govornmentworksbops. Dealing with tho supply of locomotives, the fact that Prico Bros, could BUpply A class locomotives, at £73 16s. 4d. per ton would ap.. pear to justify the manufacture of these engines in tho Dominion, for: it was probable that 'similar machines could not be.imported from .England and plaoed on tho rails here for loss than £70.per toif. The cost of thelocal cllgino would bo only 5} per Cent, inexcess of the imported one. If the. Department determined to .continue tho manufao- ' tnro of locomotives _tli& board considered that (1) either the additional appliance^'already enumerated should be installed at Addmgtoa ' in the new manufacturina shop section distinct from tho repair, scctiOu, or (2) an in-, • dependent general railway manufacturing shop should bo set; up in a suitable locality. Failing one .of thesa cotirsos of action, eontracts should ; in; future be, let. to' private , firms for all locomotives required.

, i MR. RONAYNE DIFFERS': CENERAL MANAGER REVIEWS REPORT. RECOMMENDATIONS NOT PRACTICAL. Mr, Roitayiie, general manager of railways, in an accompanying .memorandum, stated that the difficulty of carrying out ropair-majiufaclurini; ,:: works had 'existed from tho outset, in \ v iew of ; the. fact : that' tho shops had boon brigina-lly equipped as.repair shops and not ; for "manufacturing purposes. When it was decided t-o manufacture rolling stock, it was felt .that it would bo wiser ;o devote money that was available to rolling stock and to utilise the existing shops, than to expend a largo amount oil tho establish- | mont of 'a manufacturing shop. Tho wisdom of,that course had bcoomo apparent, it having-been.found that the quantity of rolling stock turned out during the last nine years had put tlm Department in a jwsition to meet all tho demands of tho tratfio. Whoa the.programme for 190S-9 was completed, &, Portlier large rolling stock programmo wouldnot be essential, although a certain amount of new work ; must- be doiio in the shops in Order, to provide full. employment for tlnV staff thatnad necessarily to to; kept on iu anticipation of-repair work, which oonsworably: ' Ho went on to say that some' of tho inaohines in use were not of the newest typ6, but tho,y' were efiioicnt for tlveir mhin' purpose. DuriUg tho Inst eight years £31,000 had. been spent on new equipment., . -

Board's comparisons UnhisthiMv/' is inodcni'liiaiiufud.w'iiig practice'was lo entirely separate repair work, tho comparisons mado by tho Commissioners wore, in nis opinion, unreasonable. TJndcr the c militioiii) WvaiKng in Now Zealand, a separate ii\ii:<l. factoring shop would, ho br> tiltetV tmwawsmted. With ' resect'"' to the iiow appliaticas suggested, tho rc^nifcironts if t.'o prosont time were reasonably r<l. hi support of his contentions lie detailed plant. Ftnanml arrangements had proelii 1" ! tho . possibility. ; of: . giving efl'cet m proposals to generate: motive jvwij iby olectricby. Etperte differed as to. di'ei producer gia waa profmblo as a inni'vi power, ffis opinion was, the money which would bo neoessary to remodel the slum; woald be better Bpent on rolling stool;. I)< djforedwJaofaWy frow tbe Ootnimssioncm it

their estimate of . tho coko consumption m oonncction with a producer gas plant for the works, and tho Baving likely to bo effected through its medium. Ttme-Keeplng Systom Efficient. The present system of ooet and tim&keeping had been built up as the result of •years of experience, 'and was, in his opinion, thoroughly efficient, simplej and accurate. A card system that would be satisfactory in a 'small. solf-containe<i sbop would not bo so under the conditions existing in the Government workshops. The costs were closelv < ' scrutinised, and investigations made in all casos in which it was considered that the results had not boon satisfactory from the point of view of economy. The amount nf - manufacturing undertaken was altogether insufficient to justify tho setting up of a sto'ik store. The replacement of the tool room by a well-equipped room was'no doubt desirable, but it had- had ,to stand over to allow more urgent .work;to.be done. If the new work wore entirely ;separated. from repair work, , . and the wholo 'of tho . operations neoessary wore performed under the same roof, the . system of .cost would -no doubt be brought into oporatdon. Such a system would not ~ bo found to be simpler or more efficient *fihan the presont system. ,

' . Movements of Staff. With , regard to the movements of the staff ,at Addington, he disagreed, entirely with the conclusions of the Commissioners. The evidence was' emphatic that taken as a whole the amount of work ,done hy the men .was -. satisfactory. . It 'was 'shown that the men as workmen compared favourably with, day , workmen/in Amerioa,': although it was admitted that- the. Ainerican piece workmen tare quicker. ' Those directly in charge of . -.the men had all the control.. whioh Wfcs ... essential for the maintenajioe of proper . discipline. ; He; did .' not agree that a great .improvements-in' staff-' wonld be oliectcd if . workshop managers were held' ■ personally responsible for the results obtamed the shops and given greater powers of control. The system; of staff control.advocated .by the • board had been tried, but Was s°t satisfactory. It had been found that the matter of appointments and punish-' ;: ment.. under that system were not'- satisfactory. Men who: were considered unsuitable, for employment in one locality were taken on : m another ;. without proper inquiry as. to .their qualifications and.eligibility. Then, , again, .-somi ''officers inflicted unduly light and others unduly, heavy punishment for breaches. : , Uniformity could only be done by concentrating tho staff work and . directing it from one.(central office as had been. the.practice for the last thirteen years; The old System; which, had proved unsatia- ; factory when the staff numbered fewer than. 3000 wotj.lji.bo an: uttor failure when applied to .'a staff of 13,000. The, fact' that at Ad-■ dington fully 75. per cent, of the tradesmen' .'. were recommended for the'first grade was . an answer to the question that had boen ■ 'raised . as .-to-whether'.the presents-method • was conducive to the elficiency .of the..staff /'or- otherwise.

Influcnco of ttio Poblfo. ' Mr. Ronayno wont on to say" thai tho fact of anyone preferring a request with'Tegard . to an appoiiitmkit or.; making ■■ a. suggeSioh ■ on a matter connected with ,railway working did not influence the management one'way., or another. * Any concessions' that; vwere .made in regard to allowing :the!. publio to ■ inspect the • works '.were made I because they were considerfd reasonable. It waa not ne-„ . cessary nor "desirable /for. the : Department which was manufacturing stock for its own purpose to make a profit out of tho manu-. 1 factoring account. Whoro tli-o Conunissionora had made comparissna as to cost of manufacture they had failed,- inter alia, to ap- ' preciate the widely divergent conditions/that, existed in ; regard,'to -laoonr and facilitka. in , Now Zealand compared with those of otner • .countries. ■'< , Owing 'to "the - fact that the : experimental work nad been done at Adding-' ton', it had increased'the cost of production • at that shop to a' considerable -extent. - Then,- , again, the loading of locomotives built in the shops in New Zealand with a ; heavy .percent age- on the . cost of material ana labour i was not justifiable.' He, concurred with the board that in oertain changes,of equipment, -, ;. which; resolved-'.themselves into -a matter 1 of expenditure, an' increased output- could be obtained. It was erroneous to suppose that tho foremen did. not make investigations on tho question of cost. ■ If thesupervising olficors should have had csrperience;'beyond the shops of Now Zealand railways, it would : mean the importation; of: men from abroad, - or sending men to other countries for ex- ; periehce. The Commissioners'; recommendation that managers should be given two years' active work in an English manufacturing shop was impracticable, on 'aocoirnt of expense; .Whore inventions had proved of ' practical utility, . bonuses had ' been granted to the inventors. ' The finding, of-tho Commissioners, that the work at Addington 'was not done expeditiously and economically was - not*- in accordance with the weight of evidence. . i - - , i' ; "" ■' '■ .. ;

■ ' I Question of Expenditure. We fully tho desirableness of separating 'repair work from new work, where the . circumstances were such as to justify the expenditure,: which was not tho case at the present in New Zealand, ■o -i Neither.' the existing nor the. 'prospective y' ■ business was sufficient to warrant. him recommending ■ the Government to set aside the large amount that- would be involved to provide for the establishment of a fully equipped, manufacturing shop, with its separaix! staff, and the annual recurring liability for finding the money necessary to . keep the shop, fully employed and jay the wages of the, operatives. The mjnTmimi amount required for that,, on tho basis of oxisting-expenditure out of'capital on new stock, would be £260,000 per annum. As far as could be seen, very little improve- , ment could be made in the methods without . »incurring very heavy expenditure to provido for . the complete feorganisation of . the shops and. their equipment, Improvements in connection with the tool system had been engaging his attention, but> had had to be deferred on account of the expenditure. The t:mo : had arrived when it should bo definitely :aid ?': 'down, that; promotion from tho low to the . ; , higher grades _.w.ould depend entirely on the V: , general efficiency and good conduct of ■ mem-' , hers, and not on .the numerical position , of. . the : member on the classification list. . . ; • The policy of-making the'best erf the appli-' •ances had been the wisest arid best one. If ; ; ■ it wore'desired to establish, a manufacturing " < shop,' the; requirements ; of' the Commission • • could be mot by converting tho Hillside Workshop®" and making the' Addirigton and Invercargill 'shops ropair establishments. Htf y.-J,.: reiterated ■that., such a ithing ' would be un- . • justifiable, and that ..the . requirements in the matter of locomotives could be aniply, pro--1 vided for by. letting additional contract's to private firms within tho Dominion, and carrying out such now work at Hillside, Addington, and Petono as was required to keep the men who must be employed for 'repairs fully engaged. Whde he held those .viows ho ' .'frilly, appreciated tho desirableness of improving; tho equipment of the various shops , . from. time to timd as circumstances warranted and funds wero available. That bad. .' ho said in conclusion, boon his policy during the last fifteen years. ,

. NEWMARKET WORKSHOPS. Referenco was made in the House yesterday by Mr. C. H. Poolo, member for Auckland West, to tho transfer of railway material from the -Newmarket, Workshops. Thore had, hp understood, been;o great deal of material in the : Newmarket : . Workshops ' which was intended for the manufacture of trucks for tho Main Trunk railway, but a iarge proportion of : it had been shipped to Iho, south, - thus causing great dissatisfaction. in Auokland. ; Ho asked the Government to see that a fair hmount of this work > vas retained for 'the Newmarket Workshops.' 7 ". The Minister for Railways (the Hon. J. A; Millar) said that there .had been less retrenchment at' Newmarket than at any . of the other workshops in tho Dominion. Tho material in'question had been sent to Addington because thoy had the bogies and framework for tho trucks there. Tho only way to cheapen the cost of * production was to specialise in different departments at tho various workshops. If they had all tho workshops doing the same class of work thoy would have an experisivo system. Tho Newmarket Workshops would get a fair " lliaro of work. .! • ..'